Turin Brakes

Turin Brakes are a modern folk pop duo comprising of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, hailing from Balham, London.

The band was started by longtime friends Knights and Paridjanian. The two met at a young age and spent much of their childhood together, eventually learning to sing at the age of 10 in a local cathedral choir. Although they split after Knights went to film school and Paridjian attempted to form a band in Toronto, Canada, they soon reunited and collaborated on what would later become their first EP, The Door, which was eventually released through Anvil Records in 1999 as a limited vinyl release. This lead to the band attracting the attention of larger record labels. Source Records would eventually release two more EPs, The State of Things EP and Fight or Flight, prompting NME to proclaim "Turin Brakes inhabit a space which is entirely their own, fully-formed and brutally emotive... give them the devotion they deserve."

Source reissued the song "The Door" before releasing their first album, The Optimist LP, in 2001. The album, which was released internationally by Astralwerks, was greeted wi...